“Reputation, reputation, reputation! O I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself and what remains is bestial--My reputation, Iago, my reputation!” cries Cassio after becoming drunk on duty and falling into a brawl in Shakespeare's play “Othello.”
We also hear Jacques in “As You Like It” proclaim, “All the World's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
According to the sociologist Erving Goffman, society is indeed comparable to a huge theater where people are actors anxious about how others see them and so take all kinds of steps to make the right impression lest they lose the approval and acceptance of their peers. The main point is people 'keep up appearances' and attain acceptance by performing the right role in what they assume (and have learned) is the appropriate way. Most people don't want to be shunned, stigmatized or avoided as outcasts.
In his classic work “Presentation of Self in Everyday Life,” {1959} Goffman compared society to a stage where he made all kinds of striking parallels between theatrical performances and the kinds of acts we all put on in our day to day interactions. For instance, all social interaction happens in the front region of the stage.
Actors on the stage, as in social life, are seen to be interested in wearing the appropriate attire and saying the right lines from a prepared script. In the back region of the theater actors retire, relinquish roles, and relax by being themselves. But we are all fragile while performing such roles. As Cassius finds, one hapless move or poor performance and we can lose our reputation…then our standing and station in society. We are just one slip away from being shunned.
It is a brilliant metaphor and Goffman used it to obtain some acute insights! In addition, some of Goffman's views are vindicated by literature. For instance, in Haraki Murakami's short story “Drive My Car,” the main hero finds himself not only performing on stage but off stage when he pretends and acts as though he is unaware that he has slept with his wife.
In his study of cultural Russia, “Natasha's Dance,” Figes describes how the lives of the nobility were conducted like a performance according to strict rituals, manners, and scripted words. When Chekhov's play “The Seagull” was first performed the audience were unsure whether the actors on stage were actually acting or having a private conversation.
It is in regard to the role of stigmatization that Goffman left a powerful legacy and influence. Goffman, through a method called ‘participant observation’ noticed how the mentally ill, and other social groups could be stigmatized through a process of negative stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination. Participant observation is a type of qualitative research in which the researcher participates in the day-to-day lives of the subjects in order to collect data that is timely and authentic to the study.
Goffman remains the expert on stigma, taking on roles, and striving to save face. He is read and discussed by students and researchers in fields such as social work, psychology, sociology, and disability services. Goffman spoke about these topics at length. He also spoke about stereotypes.
I myself deal with stereotypes—as a volunteer attempting to help homeless persons and others. In Moscow, I have on a regular basis come across negative stereotyping of the homeless, Caucasian, and other groups. I find even some of the homeless themselves deny they are homeless and denigrate 'the less accepted homeless.' I often hear a homeless person insisting "I am not ‘bomzhi' like those other people over there… I am not dirty, drunk or lazy. I'm not one of them." This is because the word bomzhi {not having a definite place of residence} has become linked with negative stereotypes of the homeless being mentally ill, alcoholics, addicts and lazy.
If you live in Moscow long enough you will also come across strong prejudice against people from the Caucasian countries where people tell you they are aggressive, violent and abusive of women.
The storyteller Daniel Ogen told me he had given up attempting to challenge such negative stereotypes because he felt he was up against a brick wall. The effect of such negative stereotypes can be seen in action in the Moscow Metro. The police more frequently stop and check Caucasian passengers and in the worst scenarios Caucasians have been murdered by extreme bigots.
There is a lot to be said for Goffman challenging negative stigmatization of social groups. He remains a strong inspiration for homeless advocates. I personally would be over the moon to have all his collected works on my bookshelf. I'd treat them with due deference.
However, some people express reservations about Goffman. They claim his work is too idiosyncratic, esoteric and not 'macro' enough. George Ritzer wrote, “It is seen as little more than a series of idiosyncratic bursts of brilliant insight.” Others claim it is impossible to build upon or develop his theories further. However, I don't think those claims stand up to serious scrutiny.
A much sharper critique was made by the Scottish philosopher Alistair MacIntyre in his work “After Virtue.” According to MacIntyre, Goffman's works lack an overall historical context, clear narrative, and strong sense of anchored personhood. He states Goffman “has liquidated the self into its role playing, arguing that the self is no more than 'a peg' which the clothes of the role are hung. Goffman is wrong to claim it is an error to assume ‘there is a substantial self over and beyond the complex presentation of role playing’ or that otherwise people are 'depersonalized ' by the stage in which they perform {“After Virtue,” by Alisdair MacIntyre, 1981, 2004, page 32}. McIntyre argues that 'for Goffman' the social world is everything, the self is nothing at all and occupies no social space. Instead of richly-defined theological concept of self you have a ghostly person stripped of his or her qualities. Goffman forgets that a person, at least in pre-modern society, was a member of a community, tribe and village with a strong sense of obligations, duties and belongings. It would be better to define a person as having a narrative identity suggesting a person is much more profound and much deeper than just an actor engaged in simple role-playing. We are much more than just role players. MacIntyre does not agree with much of Goffman’s work, reminding us that society “Does not define everything!”
MacIntyre also compares Goffman to being the social equivalent of Nietzsche 's will to power where people interact with the narrow aim of obtaining power, success, and maximum effectiveness. However, people don't just interact to 'make a powerful impression on others.' Many people such as artists and actors perform their role because they love to hone their skills and arts. Many Jazz players and artists perform their art not to impress people but because they love their art—deep in their soul. They strive to develop irrespective of social approval or acknowledgement.
Of course, it is quite possible MacIntyre has misread Goffman or put words into his mouth. That is why it is an imperative to really read Goffman in the raw rather than just secondary sources.
It is in reading the original Goffman that we can obtain the truest sense of what he meant about stigma, taking on the roles we feel we must play,
…and acting in ways we feel are authentic to what others expect people in those roles to do. His study of alcoholics, persons with disabilities, and other subjects remain required reading in many fields in which students prepare to help others.
Goffman remains the recognized expert on stigma, taking on roles, and striving to save face.
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Acknowledged sources:
1. “After Virtue,” second edition, by Alasdair MacIntyre, 1981, 2004. London: Ducksworth. MacIntyre's work can be heavy going but he sharply criticizes Goffman as well as Sartre.
2. “Asylums: Essays on the Social Situations and Other Inmates,” by Erving Goffman, 1961. New York: Doubleday-Anchor. It is best to go to these original works to see whether the criticism is really fair or not.
3. “Classical Sociological Theory,” second edition, by George Ritzer, 1996. Singapore: McGraw Hill International Editions. See pages 67-68 for a brief but lucid account of Goffman.
4. “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, 1994. Hertfordshire, England: The Wordsworth Poetry Library. You can't beat the legendary poet and playwright! Goffman is in good company when using material from those plays.
5. “Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia, by Orlando Figes, 2003. London: Penguin Books. If you seek parallels with the stage and real life then Orando's research on the theater lends support to Goffman's “dramaturgical theory.”
6. “The Politics of Experience, and The Bird of Paradise,” by R.D. Laing, 1967. London: Penguin Books. R.D. Laing was strongly influenced by Goffman and quotes him in this work.
7. “Presentation of Self in Everyday Life,” by Erving Goffman, 1959. Garden City, New York: Doubleday-Anchor.
“Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity,” by Erving Goffman, 1963. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.